Question: We are an employer that has a few employees working in Minneapolis, and just heard about a new law requiring employers to provide paid sick leave in Minneapolis. Will this apply to us? What are the requirements? And how long do I have to prepare?

Question: Where can I find more information about the DOL’s doubling of the FLSA salary basis threshold? Did they make other changes? As an employer, what does this mean for me? And how long do I have to prepare?

Question: Our company uses agreements to try to protect our confidential and proprietary information. One of our former sales employees recently left us to work for a competing company. We have evidence he took with him our confidential information about our clients and is planning to use it to sell products to our clients for his new employer. When we reminded him he could not use our confidential information, he said we couldn’t stop him because the information does not qualify as a “trade secret” under our state’s trade secrets laws. We looked into the issue, and he’s probably right that this information is not necessarily a “trade secret”. We’re worried there’s nothing we can do to stop him from using our information to steal our clients. Help?

Question: We have a large meat processing facility in Northern Minnesota. We were recently hiring for one of our positions in the plant requiring work with large mechanical equipment. Because we consider this position to be safety sensitive, we require candidates for this position to pass a medical examination prior to hire. One of the candidates for the open position was rejected because her BMI exceeded our qualification standards for such safety sensitive positions. This seemed reasonable to me, but I thought I should check – can we deny employment on the basis of weight without violating the ADA?

Question: Our company uses non-compete and non-solicit agreements that bar former employees from having contact with any client of our company after they leave. One former employee who recently left is now claiming the agreement is invalid because it is “overly broad” in that it bars him from soliciting not only those clients of ours he used to work with, but clients he never had any dealings with. I can see his point, but at the same time, how are we supposed to know when he signs the agreement which of our clients he will end up working with?